Feiner wants to delay auction on Frank’s Nursery scheduled for Dec. 3

It looks like the town of Greenburgh’s long-awaited auction of the contaminated Frank’s Nursery site on Dobbs Ferry Road will be delayed.

Town Supervisor Paul Feiner told Tax Watch Monday that interest in the contaminated seven-acre site is so high that he’d like to delay the sealed-bid auction until February or March. Feiner said two potential purchasers have told him he’d pay more than the minimum bid of $3.5 million.

The Town Board will meet Tuesday morning to discuss the matter.

“These offers are from substantial developers,” Feiner said. “But they need more time to do their research. Because there’s so much interest, if we give it a couple of more months, we’d get the best offer we could get.”

Feiner’s latest delay comes six months after the town rejected an offer of $3.5 million for the seven-acre site. Greenburgh foreclosed on the property in 2011 after Frank’s failed to pay $1.4 million in back taxes. Since then, Greenburgh taxpayers have covered an estimated $50,000 a year in county and school taxes.

Edgemont attorney Bob Bernstein, who lost to Feiner in the 2013 Democratic primary for town supervisor, said Feiner has unfairly inserted himself into what was to be a sealed-bid auction to skew the bids. He also doubted Feiner’s assertion that the developers had pledged more than $3.5 million.

“If it’s supposed to be secret, why is Feiner having a conversation about what someone wants to bid?” Bernstein said. “It looks like he is conducting his own private negotiations, even though the town agreed it would be done by secret bid.”

Feiner insisted that he wasn’t trying to influence the sealed bid process to touting the arrival of two new suitors for the land, which was contaminated by Frank’s leaking oil tanks, and never cleaned up.

“I’m saying they were offering more than $3.5 million, and I didn’t say how much more they were offering,” Feiner said. “I’m not saying who the property owners are.”

But Bernstein said Feiner should butt out.

“Paul can’t sit still and just let the auction happen,” Bernstein said. “He needs to interfere in the bidding process when it is supposed to be secret. If you are having a secret bid, you can’t one guy know what the other guy is bidding. He’s corrupting the process. ”

Feiner said the offers were made in meetings he had with the developers and town planning staff. The parcel is currently zoned for single family homes. But the offering sheet for the land mentions that the town is considering changing the zoning to allow recreational uses. Feiner said that

The Frank’s sale has been mired in controversy for the 12 months. In November, 2012, Greenburgh voters approved a townwide referendum that backed a plan to lease the site for 15 years. But critics pointed out that state law required that property taken in tax foreclosure be sold, so that taxpayers are made whole for the back taxes they had front during the years when the property owned skipped payment.

Then in May, Feiner held a press conference at the abandoned site, announcing it had a deal to sell the land to Game On 365, a company that planned to erect a sports bubble on the site and build fields for youth recreation clubs. But a competitor, House of Sports, of Ardsley, offered $3.5 million. A loud shouting match broke out at the press conference. And Greenburgh decided to set aside the Game On deal.

They’d settle it with the sealed auction.

Now Feiner is seeking delays. He also interested in exploring a change in the auction process as well. Under the current rules, the parties will submit sealed bids, with the land going to the highest bidder. Now Feiner is considering having the auction be held in public, with the bidders bidding against each other.

“Maybe there is more interest than we thought,” Feiner said. “Maybe we will do better if people bid against each other. I’m not sure. But that’s another option.”

Veteran journalist David McKay Wilson has written about public affairs for more than 30 years, including 21 years at The Journal News, and several years as a regular contributor to The New York Times. A Sharfman Fellow in economics at Brandeis University, Wilson was honored by the Education Writers Association in 2010 for his analysis of economists’ growing role in U.S. education policy and in 2012 for his reporting on suburban schools and cheating by those who administer standardized tests.

6 Comments

PAUL FEINER

This story is a bit inaccurate. I have not had any personal contact with the two new potential purchasers of the of frank’s nursery property. In September the town posted a sign at Frank’s indicating that the property is for sale. We have received calls from potential purchasers—two expressed serious interest in purchasing the property for more than the $3.5 million. This is good news for the town. PAUL FEINER

Mr. Feiner’s clarification is more than a little bit inaccurate. Readers should question what exactly serious interest means. Given the vehicle that Feiner chose (a sealed bid auction for a property “as is”), how does he define “serious interest” and at “more than the $3.5 million” (upset price)? Here Feiner denies personal contact yet he has at Work Sessions claimed HE has received calls and spoken to unnamed parties, one alluded to be in the assisted living industry and the other a very nearby developer of luxury single family homes. Neither use conforming to the bandied about “sports corridor”. Those who have involved in real estate transactions can recognize that Feiner is merely blowing smoke to disguise the Town’s lack of interest in seeing the property end up in hands that have not already shaken hands with Feiner in secret. How else to explain the Town putting out an inaccurate, misleading and incomplete “fact sheet” which even omits any reference to the known environmental hazards—revealed in two studies paid for by the Town. How else to explain the Town not doing any display advertising of the property’s availability? But, if anyone is willing to pay more than $3.5 million, it wouldn’t be someone who seriously wants to buy a property at Auction. Then too, it was early in 2013 that Mr. Feiner wanted the Town to accept a binding offer of only $1,700,000 for the property with an additional $1,300,000 ONLY if the desired zoning changes were part of the deal. If not, this “serious” buyer would own the property for just the $1,700,000. If so, the Town would be taking back an unsecured $1.3 million promissory note and NOT a mortgage secured by the property. Finally, if an Auction date is stated, it becomes the obligation of the bidders to do their homework in time to meet the announced date. Here we have only Feiner’s story that more time is needed but apparently how much is not something that the Town wants to commit to. What now seems clear is that the additional time from this date forward to Auction will be longer than that period allocated for the Auction from its announcement to the event itself. What you have here is Feiner leading the public in circles yet not caring about whether or not he bumps into himself while lapping himself.
I’ll stick with David Wilson’s version.

There is so much wrong about this Auction that readers will soon learn that it was nothing more than a sham serving only one purpose: to counter criticism pre Democratic Primary that Feiner was doing nothing about the property. The secret to continued salaried employment when working for Feiner is to do whatever Feiner wants—right (rarely) or wrong (daily). Thus curious residents who sought to see what information the Town was providing anyone (pop. 2) who called Thomas Madden’s phone number (posted on the Auction sign on the property) and requested information may (more often may not) been sent the worst “information” sheet I have seen in my 30 years of commercial real estate involvement. Foremost was the absence of any disclosure of the environmental problems—illegal in that the Town had, itself, paid for two environmental studies and therefore obligated to disclose the findings. Missing too and listed here in no special order: the all cash requirement; the existence of an one story structure and paved parking (positive for some, negative for others); the assessment and current taxes; the VERY useful information that the site has BOTH ACCESS AND EGRESS to the Sprain Parkway in BOTH directions (and the information that the Sprain connects to other nearby major highways including I-287); the aerial views are incorrectly labeled…And, for a property being marketed “as is”, the disquieting information that the Town may rezone the property adds to the confusion and apprehension. Minor mistakes such as a PUBLIC golf course and a PRIVATE golf driving range abound; that the first two paragraphs repeat each other—all providing the clue that the “fact sheet” was never even proof read. Finally there appears a representation that separately there exists information regarding the December 3 Auction is completely bogus. No such document exists (or at least has been provided despite repeated requests for such) so despite the assumption that prospective bidders might want to know how to submit their bids, how much money must the winning bidder put down and how soon after is the closing. Bottom line: more of the same old stink whenever Feiner finds its necessary to put his private needs ahead of the public trust. The suspicion continues that Feiner is finally cashing out for having affected the demeanor of a caring Town Supervisor (problem solver) always willing to go out on a limb on behalf of constituents. More often is the reality: Feiner is the problem creator and soon the extent of the Fortress Bible problem will emerge from under its coating of concealer. The current Frank’s embarrassment cries out: rotten deal with all the earmarks of purposeful corruption. This taken together with Feiner seeking a 10% salary increase in 2014, both strongly suggest that Feiner is cashing in at last for his 22 years in office. Given the proven naivety of Greenburgh ostriches who read Feiner as a stuttering schmo, the real Feiner is increasingly on exhibit and it is not a pretty picture. For certain, history will show that Feiner is neither Figaro or Fiorello but instead one possessing a questionable private agenda: one NOT in the public interest.

Once more, the Journal News has disguised Greenburgh news of substance by banishing it to a blog: hiding the blog from home page acknowledgement. Readers have to search for something they have no reason to believe exists: in this case the only evidence was its pick-up on Bob Bernstein’s Facebook page, Greenburgh-update.
A disturbing statement was made at the Town Board Work Session this morning. Whenever the Auction happens, the bids would be opened and “evaluated”. For an “as is” Auction, there is no purpose to evaluate the bids: the highest bid is the winner. Given how Mr. Feiner operates, the whole notion of a sealed bid is non-productive and more so when Feiner is saying that the birds whispering in his ear are willing to offer more than the $3,500,000 upset price. Why not clear the air an hold an “Open” Auction so that all bids can be heard directly from the bidders and the public will know that the the possibility of untoward manipulation is reduced—not entirely eliminated. Let’s be real; an open government should be advocating and open auction and no one expects that there will be hundreds of bidders holding up paddles or yelling out their offers.

“PAUL FEINER
Another clarification—the sign at Franks directs potential purchasers to contact town staff for further information. The two new possible purchasers have been in communication with town staff.

November 11th, 2013 at 9:34 PM / Reply”

Another clarification. In the book of Feiner, what he has written as a comment is a technically correct statement but one intended to throw readers off track. Feiner wants readers to believe that the “seriously interested” parties approached “town staff” and not him. Yes they may well have spoken to “town staff” (i.e. re how to inspect the property) but what Feiner seeks is to deflect from the reality that yes the bidders have spoken to “town staff” but only AFTER private “negotiations” with Feiner.
And, there is a subtle change afoot; note that the phrase “sports corridor” is hereafter moribund.